Culture, Community and U.S. Foreign Policy

Wednesday, March 31, 2010Culture, Community and U.S. Foreign PolicyThere’s little doubt the United States has some dark episodes in its foreign policy history. Historian Walter Hixson posits that the history of US diplomacy has been consistently violent, and that such violence is fueled by nationalism, a sense of moral superiority, and the idea that it’s America’s duty to protect the rest of the world. Hixson says these ideas come from our own domestic culture and the narratives we collectively tell ourselves about our history. He joins us Wednesday to talk about these and other themes in his book, The Myth of American Diplomacy: National Identity and U.S. Foreign Policy.